•The new Speaker of the Edo House of Assembly, Mr Yekini Idiaye

The Edo House of Assembly has sworn in a newly elected Speaker , Yekini Idiaye, following the resignation of the former speaker, Blessing Agbebaku.

Speaking in an interview after his swearing-in ceremony in Benin, Idiaye pledged the full cooperation of the house to the state executive, describing Governor Monday Okpebholo as a performing leader who deserved legislative backings.

“He is doing a lot for the people of Edo, so we have to cooperate with him to move the state forward,” he added.

Fielding question on the exit of the former speaker, Idiaye cited the challenges of corruption and poor leadership.

Idiaye said: ” There’s corruption here and there. Every now and then it is adjournment — we resume tomorrow, adjournment for another 30 days, 20 days — and we were all not too happy with this leadership style.”

The new speaker pointed out that a weak legislature directly affected the executive, adding that the house had to act to protect the governor’s performance.

“Once the leadership is poor, it will drag the work of the governor backwards. So we decided to say no.”

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has issued a notification to the public, media representatives, and relevant stakeholders regarding the compromise of its official account on X (formerly known as Twitter).

The Director of Defence Information, Major General Samaila Uba, disclosed this in a statement, describing the incident as a cybersecurity matter.

He said “appropriate technical measures had been activated to secure the account and prevent further unauthorised access.”

Uba assured the public that efforts were ongoing to fully restore control of the account, while advising members of the public to disregard any suspicious, unauthorised or misleading content posted from the account during the period.

The Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Blessing Agbebaku, has resigned following moves by some lawmakers to impeach him.

Agbebaku said his decision came after extensive consultations with his constituency and party leaders.

In related developments, other principal officers of the House, including the Majority Leader and his deputy, have been suspended.

Agbebaku had served as Speaker for six years, having assumed the position during the tenure of former Governor Godwin Obaseki. He defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) after the 2024 Edo governorship election.

Yekini Idiaye has emerged as the new Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly.

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